Decisive, Knowledgeable and Courageous: What We Deserve in an FDA Commissioner

By DeeDee DeMan – One of the very few things that has made much sense lately is the consideration of Scott Gottlieb, MD for Commissioner of the FDA. Mea culpa, I am the culprit who brought Scott out of his FDA role as Deputy Commissioner to bring him into Pharma sector as an advisor to Big Pharma, prior to his joining private equity. Now is the time to bring him back. I commend him and for his commitment to service and for the fact that he is one of the finest medics I have known in my 42 years serving this industry. With Scott, we would have a Commissioner who “gets” all of us; product producers, service leaders, patients, families.

Donald Trump ‘s potential choices to lead the Food and Drug Administration have called for the agency to ramp up approval of new products, though in drastically different ways. Two people have been floated as being under consideration to lead the agency: agency veteran and physician Scott Gottlieb and libertarian and investment firm director Jim O’Neill.